St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-11-19
GONE TO CANADA.
DAVID SCOTT LEAVES HIS PART
NERS IN THE LURCII.

One Hundred Thousand Dollars supposed
to be the Amount Lost Through His OPP
erations-The Firm VIII Pay Dollar fol-
Dollar of Its Entire Indebtedness.
Under stress of grave financial diff
culties, David Scott, business man prom
inent in his line in New York, and we'll
known club 1lan, has absconded, leaving
his firm in the lurch for 100000. The firm
of Vernon, Brothers & Co. was estab
lished in 1S43 by Samuel and Thomas
Vernon. They owned several large paper
mills in the East, which were operated
by them under various names for con
venience in bookkeeping. The Vernon
Paper Company, Russell, Mass; the
Northampton Paper Company, North
ampton, Mass; the Ithaca Paper Com
pany, Ithaca, n. Y. and the Rainbow
Paper Company, Rainbow, Conn.,, are
owned bv them. The firm is largely in
terested as stockholders in several other
paper milling establishments, for which
it is also the selling agent. Among those
is the Ivanhoe Manufacturing Company,
of Paterson, N j., of which they owned
one-third of the capital stock. The firm
has always ranked high in the trade, be-
ing credited with capital of over ST.,
100000, and unlimited credit by the mer-
camille agencies.
Until about week ago the firm con-
sisted of Thomas Vernon, one of the
founders of the firm; David Scott,
George R. Vernon, a nephew, and T.
Alfred Vernon, son of the senior
member. Mr.. Thomas Vernon has
made the following statement: David
Scott, prominent member of this firm,
came to us boy about thirty years ago.
He was bright and intelligent, and rap
idly rose in the estimation of my brother,
Samuel Vernon, then the head of the
firm, and of myself, and about five years
later he was admitted to small partner
ship interest, which was increased about
seventeen years ago when my brother
died. Mr.. Scott was a cultivated man
and respectfully connected in Ontario,
Canada, whence he came. His father
was surveyor of customs at that port,
and, as jealous member of the Church
of the Disciples, occasionally preached
from its pulpits. He has brother and
other relatives there also, all of whom
are highly respectable people. | had
known Mr.. Scott to be a good liver for
years, but had no knowledge of any bad
habits of his until recently. Then |
learned that he had got into expensive
habits, and was neglecting his business
for the race-track and other forms of
dissipation. 1t shortly after came to my
knowledge that he had considerably over
drawn what he was entitled to as a mem
ber of the firm. am an old man, and,
having every confidence in Mr.. Scott,
who had been so long with me, I gave
his management of the finances of the
firm but superficial attention.
when | discovered what [ have told
you | asked him what he had done with
the money he had drawn out, and he said
he had made some investments in Mani
toba, but of what character he did not
say. When l asked him if he could not
realize upon his investments and return
the money, he merely shrugged his shoul- |
ders and waved his hands as indicating
that he could not convert them into
money. Last Saturday week l saw him
for the last time. I had just returned |
from the bank, where | had learned of |
the existence of certain negotiable obli-
cations of ours of which l had no pre-
vious intimation. l had talk With him
about it and about certain parties with |
whom he was associating to his injury |!
and ours. He seemed sober at the time,
but hadn't his accustomed cheerfulness, |
and seemed oppressed with the weight
upon his mind of some impending evil. |
He gave me No satisfaction regarding our
affairs. nor did he intimate any inten-
tion of going away. But saw him then
for the last time. He went away then
and has not since communicated with us.
II learned of his disappearance the
following Monday, when sent up to his
house and received word that he had not
been there since Saturday. I immedi-
ately put experts at work upon our
books, and learned, to my surprise and
sorrow, that he had taken from us over
$4,000 beyond what I had any idea of.
Besides this, he had given notes to the
ssvanhoe Manufacturing Company way
beyond anything authorized by us.
Scott was president of that company,
ana we were ltS Sellng agents. lie mad
also been indorsing personally for the
Ivanhoe, and his notes were maturing.
I suppose these were some of the things
he did not care to face"
Are you in debt to the Ivanhoe Com
pany ?" Mr.. Vernon was asked
"They owe us about $60,0fJ," he re-
piled. "What shape they ale in to paw
this do not know We own one-third
of their capital stock, but were not fur
ther represented in the company than by
Mr.. Scott"
"Have you ascertained the full extent
Of his outstanding obligations ?"
"We have no means of ascertaining
hat at once, but we have learned the
whole extent to which he has made us
liable, and we shall be able to pay every
lollar. / have seen a letter from him
lated at Niagara a week ago Monday.
In it he said: by the time you receive
his shall be in another world. 1t is all
I'D with me- When I saw that I had
iotice of the dissolution of the firm by
lis withdrawal published. Since his de-
,arture l have learned that he had done
what he ought not to, and while he has